My puppy is allergic to pollen, dust

sandyichibansandyichiban
edited September 2009 in Food, Nutrition, & Health
I went to the vet's today for my 3.5 month yr old shibas' second set of shots and the vet noticed his scratching, watery eyes and small scabs on his skin (from the excessive scratching) Turns out my little furball has seasonal allergies, which pretty much means all year round because we live in So. California.

My vet said most likely his allergies are caused by pollen and by his environment and probably not his food. I'd like to cancel out the food, just to be sure... Right now he is eating Orijen for puppies. I switched to Orijen because of all the rave reviews I've read online from fellow shiba owners. What do you guys think? Should I switch to something else, like Science Diet (recommended by the Vet) or stick to Orijen and assume most of his allergies are from the pollen..?

As for alleviating his symptoms, the Vet gave us some antihistimines to give to Akira 3x a day. Since he is only still a puppy, the Vet warned us that his allergies would worsen as he gets older-- especially during the summers.

For those of you who have shibas with pollen allergies, how do you keep your shiba healthy, comfortable and happy? I am a first time shiba owner, and am very worried for Akira. I know how aggravating allergies can be to humans since I"ve had my fair share of allergies.

Comments

  • tjbart17tjbart17
    edited November -1
    I'm not too sure about science diet. This is my go to guide for dog food. http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/

    IMO I think that Orijin's Puppy Food has a really high protein count, but hey I may be wrong. My puppy just got diagnosed with anemia. :p
  • tsukitsunetsukitsune
    edited November -1
    First thing - your vet can guess but he can't be 100% certain without running an allergy panel (test).

    Second - to rule out whether or not its the food - are you feeding Orijen with the chicken? Or Orijen 6 Fish? You can switch to something like Nature's Balance Limited Ingredient Diet, maybe Fish & Sweet Potato
    http://www.naturalbalanceinc.com/dogformulas/SPFish.html

    Food allergies are trial & error, you have to narrow down the cause. You should trial with kibble for a few weeks - only kibble (b/c treats have a variety of things in them that won't help narrow it down).

    But, he sounds a great deal like my female shiba who suddenly, this year - at 2 years of age, began to have allergy issues. Her eyes are running, she has eye boogs, itches herself red around the eyes/face.. We started with benedryl (dye free, children's dose) for a week with no relief except she slept more and therefore wasn't scratching.
    We tried Claritin 5mg daily that helped a tad but wasn't enough.
    Then the vet gave us Temeril-P (has a steroid) and that DID work, but of course a steroid long term isn't much help.

    Right now we're still searching and hoping the dryer, cooler weather helps control her issues.

    Check out Tierce's blog about Atopica - it worked for them:
    http://shibainus.ca/2009/07/09/atopica-my-hero/
  • HeidiHeidi
    edited November -1
    Science Diet is garbage. Most generic grocery store brands are better than Science Diet, and cost a quarter as much. Allergies are hard to pin down, it's mostly trial and error. I don't have too much experience with allergies - my dogs are allergic to pollen, which has nothing to do with food, so someone else can probably give you better tips. I just wanted to say that when you buy Science Diet, you're paying for a bunch of marketing.
  • sandyichibansandyichiban
    edited November -1
    tj- thanks for the link. I'm going to do some more research on different food and ingredients.

    tsukisune-- yes, the Orijen does contain whole chicken. I'm going to stop giving my shiba the Orijen to see if it alleviates his symptoms. I'm leaning towards fish based kibble and will look into that brand. I hope your shiba finds some relief from allergies. Please let me know if you find anything that helps and I will do the same!

    and Hondru, I agree. A lot of the brands my vet has recommended isn't the best quality (IMO). My Vet is pretty sure that my shiba is also allergic to pollen since he is licking his paws constantly and scratching around his neck. He suggested switching food brands as a precaution. Is your shiba taking any anti-allergy meds right now?
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